Friends of New York’s Environment Urge NY Legislators Not to Pick-Pocket Environmental Fund to Reopen Parks

by Environmental Advocates of New York

ALBANY, NY (05/25/2010)(readMedia)– More than 200 civic, conservation, community, environmental, public health, zoos, botanical gardens and other groups called on members of the New York State Assembly and Senate today to reject Governor David Paterson’s plan to reopen state parks by cutting the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). The Governor’s proposal to divert dedicated EPF monies to reopen state parks and historic sites and prevent additional parks from closing is unacceptable and would simply add insult to injury.

The Executive budget proposal released earlier this year underfunded New York’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, as well as other environmental agencies, forcing some state parks to close. The Governor’s newest proposal again threatens the integrity of the EPF and puts critical programs that protect New York’s environment and public health at risk. It also completely ignores the priorities of the Legislature and solutions proposed in their budget resolutions.

“The Governor’s proposal is yet another attempt to balance the state budget on the back of New York’s environment,” said Marcia Bystryn, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters. “Offloading state agency staffing and operations into the EPF was never the Fund’s intended purpose, and could put the viability of this effective program at risk in the future. The EPF was not intended for, nor should it be used, to cool a political hot potato.”

The state has already swept $500 million from the Fund and that loan has not been repaid. Consequently, millions of dollars of critical projects across the state have not been funded and a long project backlog exists. Both the Assembly and Senate have passed budget resolutions that restored funding to keep parks open, made restorations to the Fund (which was slated for a disproportionately large cut), and rejected “offloading” state agency operations and other programs into the already strapped EPF.

“The Governor’s proposal tries to force the Assembly and Senate to either fund parks or fund other environmental programs, which is a false choice,” said Robert Moore, Executive Director, Environmental Advocates of New York. “It’s the Governor’s way of passing the buck on his earlier decision to close state parks.”

“It is outrageous of the Paterson Administration to be playing politics with New York’s Parks and Historic Sites right before the traditional start of summer – the Memorial Day weekend. Holding New Yorkers and their guests hostage, while trying to manipulate and pressure the Legislature to do something it knows is inappropriate, is a despicable abuse of the Office of Governor,” said Albert E. Caccese, Executive Director of Audubon New York.

Friends of New York’s Environment is a broad coalition of 200 plus environmental, health, agricultural, parks, recreational and urban stakeholder groups and coalitions who work together to advocate for real increases in the State’s Environmental Protection Fund, state environmental and parks staffing, and dedicated funding for environmental protection.

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Ithaca Journal – Paterson wants parks open for Memorial Day

Legislators balk at taking money from environmental funding

By Cara Matthews •Albany Bureau • May 24, 2010, 7:30 pm

Riverbank State Park Promenade - What will happen on Memorial Day? (Photo Courtesy of F. Andre Fortune)

ALBANY — After refusing to release aid for more than 50 state parks and historic sites, leading to their closure, Gov. David Paterson submitted legislation Monday that would reopen them in time for Memorial Day weekend.

But the Assembly and Senate as well as environmental groups criticized the proposal, which would use an additional $6 million from the state Environmental Protection Fund. It would require lawmakers to approve part of Gov. David Paterson’s budget proposal from January that would reduce EPF spending to $143 million, much lower than either house is aiming for.

Paterson said the Senate and Assembly have to cut elsewhere in the budget in order to open the 41 parks and 14 historic sites and maintain services at 23 other parks and one historic site.

“I have heard from my colleagues in the Legislature that funding state parks and historic sites is a top priority, but I have not heard any specific solutions as to how to pay for it,” Paterson said in a statement.

He cautioned that the bill would “require sacrifice.”

“There is a no free lunch. If legislators want to fully fund the parks, that money must come from a real source,” he said.

The public parks and historic sites have been closed while the governor and lawmakers attempt to reach a budget deal, which has been made more difficult because the state faces a $9.2 billion deficit for the current fiscal year. The governor has been proposing bare-bones emergency budget extenders each week for the current fiscal year, which began April 1, as a strategy to get lawmakers to pass a budget.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said he would bring the Paterson’s proposal up with fellow Democrats, who control the Assembly, “but I would expect the members might not like his overall plan. They definitely are committed to opening the parks, and I believe alternatively they might just pass a mandate to open the parks.”

The governor shouldn’t have closed the parks in the first place, Silver told reporters Monday, and said the governor actually is “re-routing $110 million from the Environmental Protection Fund and telling all of you that it is a $6 million program.”

Silver spokeswoman Sisa Moyo said the Assembly is working with the governor on the legislation “to see what we can accomplish.”

Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said the administration was unclear on how Silver arrived at the figures he used.

Keeping parks and historic sites open has been one of the top priorities of the Senate Democratic majority, said Travis Proulx, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn.

“The governor’s current proposal has implications far beyond parks funding. We appreciate that he has responded to our efforts to keep the parks fully operational, and are partnering with his office on language that will open the gates without devastating the EPF,” he said.

Paterson’s bill would reduce funding levels for nearly all programs funded by the EPF by 4.5 percent to obtain the $6 million needed for the parks, several of which have remained open with private or local-government funding. The budget the governor proposed in January already includes $5 million from the EPF for personnel expenses associated with capital projects for parks and historic sites.

“Given this opportunity to vote up or down on this particular issue, I now expect that the Legislature will return its focus to passing a responsible budget,” he said.

The governor’s budget proposes reducing appropriations from the Environmental Protection Fund from $212 million to $143 million. The Assembly’s resolution restored the amount to $168 million while the Senate’s would put the total at $222 million, said Alison Jenkins, Environmental Advocates of New York State’s fiscal policy program director.

The EPF fund was $255 million in 2008-09 and was supposed to jump to $287 million in the current year, but it was only funded at $222 million and was cut during the year to $212 million, Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the governor is playing a game of “political chicken” and “picking the Environmental Protection Fund’s pocket to keep the parks open.”

EPL/Environmental Advocates, the New York League of Conservation Voters and the Long Island Environmental Voters Forum issued a statement Monday that said the governor’s bill would “inflict long-term damage on every facet of New York’s environment: capital spending on water quality, farmland protection, forestry, community recycling programs, zoos, aquariums and much more.”

“He’s putting a gun to the head of the Environmental Protection Fund and threatening to pull the trigger if the Legislature doesn’t correct his past mistake of closing state parks,” said Robert Moore, executive director of EPL/Environmental Advocates.

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